After NBC's bad winter, can spring bring new life?

This publicity image released by NBC shows Danish actor Mads Mikkelson as Dr. Hannial Lecter in a scene from the upcoming TV series, "Hannibal." The series, based on the Thomas Harris novels and starring Mikkelson, Hugh Dancy, and Laurence Fishburne, will premiere on April 4, 2013 on NBC. (AP Photo/NBC, Brooke Palmer)
— AP

This publicity image released by NBC shows Danish actor Mads Mikkelson as Dr. Hannial Lecter in a scene from the upcoming TV series, "Hannibal." The series, based on the Thomas Harris novels and starring Mikkelson, Hugh Dancy, and Laurence Fishburne, will premiere on April 4, 2013 on NBC. (AP Photo/NBC, Brooke Palmer)
/ AP

Based on the characters from Thomas Harris' classic novels, "Hannibal" focuses on Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter back before the stomach-churning "Silence of the Lambs" and its film sequel.

One hopeful sign for NBC: As a grisly crime show with a psychiatrist-turned-serial-killer (played by Mads Mikkelson) and an FBI profiler (Hugh Dancy) chasing him and his imitators, "Hannibal" bears more than a passing resemblance to Fox's "The Following," which stars Kevin Bacon as a former FBI agent chasing a serial killer (James Purefoy) and his network of disciples.

"The Following," which premiered in January, has been the rare broadcast hit this midseason. Fingers are doubtless crossed at NBC that the audience's demonstrated bloodlust for "The Following" will now carry over to "Hannibal."

Either way, the signs are clear that broadcast networks are moving into edgier territory, upping the ante to win audience support.

Or even to be noticed. Consider how on cable this chilly winter, AMC's "The Walking Dead" has been eclipsing broadcast networks with its flesh-eating zombies. (It had 10.8 million viewers last week, ranking 10th among all prime-time shows.)

On cable's History channel, "The Bible" miniseries continues to gather huge flocks (10.9 million viewers last week, ranking ninth).

And let's not forget public broadcasting's "Downton Abbey," whose third season generated more excitement than anything commercial broadcast could muster. For its Feb. 17 finale, "Downton" drew 8.2 million viewers, swamping all its competition.

Now viewers are poised for the sixth-season return on April 7 of AMC's groundbreaking "Mad Men" - one of the first cable series, on one of the first "boutique" cable networks, to steal broadcast's thunder.

Sure, CBS continues to thrive, big-time, with its old-school slate of hit procedurals and sitcoms. (Last week, it averaged 8.6 million viewers in prime time, more than twice the average for NBC.)

At a moment when social-media buzz and other viewer engagement are metrics of success as never before, CBS' slate scores in old-fashioned ways: entertaining, reassuring, even pleasantly anesthetizing its audience. The best of this powerhouse pack are meticulously engineered, formulaic and familiar, yet somehow feel fresh.

Why does "NCIS" work so well, year after year, with an enormous audience? It's almost tautological: "NCIS" succeeds because it succeeds, as does its Los Angeles-set spinoff, along with "Person of Interest," "Blue Bloods," "The Big Bang Theory" and the rest of CBS' signature hits. Collectively, they seem impervious to failure. Thanks to these shows, and what they epitomize, CBS seems sure to command a mass audience - at least until its been-there-done-that bubble bursts.

This leaves the other broadcast networks to try to copy not themselves, as CBS does so brilliantly, but rather cable's celebrated strategy: not copying itself. That's how shows like "Breaking Bad," "Sons of Anarchy," "Girls" and "Homeland" happen. But cribbing originality can be hard. No wonder cable is a tough act to follow for broadcast, where cable mojo is cloned with only limited success.

Especially at NBC. So where does this leave NBC, punished by an awful winter and Leno's wisecracks? Where is its place in the TV world order? It longs to be watched, talked about and, for starters, paid attention to.